Early Morning Accident Leaves Bicyclist Dead On Foresthill Road

An early morning fatal accident occurred today on west bound Foresthill Road when a Toyota pickup struck a bicyclist. At 6:40 a.m. first responders were called out to the scene just west of the Foresthill Bridge.

A female cyclist, identified as Barbara Crowell of Dutch Flat, was riding up the grade towards Lincoln Way in Auburn, when according to the responding CHP officer, the male driver of a Toyota truck, identified as 37-year-old David Correa of Foresthill, became distracted and hit the cyclist. The cyclist died as a result of her injuries.

Correa was arrested at the scene for suspicion of driving under the influence and booked into the Placer County Jail.

Earlier this morning, a driver in another vehicle said that she saw the cyclist move in and out of the bicycle lane, crossing the white stripe into the roadway where the driver claimed she had to steer clear from hitting the cyclist, near Lower Lake Clementine Road.

The male driver was visibly distraught while officers did their investigation. The male driver of the truck was given a field sobriety test at the scene and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The Toyota and bike were towed from the scene for further investigation.

The responding CHP officer said that this is a rough start to the holiday weekend.

I sure hope we pass some sort of vehicle control legislation. Learly bikes kill more people in our community than guns. I can’t recall the last time I saw a gun death in the community but vehicles are just deadly.

My boyfriend was struck on HIS bicycle in a hit & run June 12th. Not a single news group put out the info so to help authorities catch the guilty party.
Just because he lived, it seems. Now we’ll probably never find the car as theyve had time to fix the damage
Its sad that this happened.
What worries me is if whoever hit my boyfriend will do it again.

There is a new device out called Fly6, (www.fly6.com) which is a high definition video camera and a flashing red light which mounts on your rear seat post. I have one and it is awesome. We need to get the word out about these devices and get cyclists to use them. If everyone knew that they were being video taped while approaching a cyclist, hopefully we will see a decrease in cycling accidents and also catch the hit and run motorists.

I am both a motorist and a cyclist. As a motorist driving along at the speed limit, it is nearly impossible to see what is over on the shoulder of the road. As a cyclist, I am constantly faced with debris large and small in the shoulder of the road that I must manuever around. There is glass, litter, small branches, and even potholes that I must avoid. Sometimes the only way to get around the obstacle(s) is to leave the shoulder and go out into traffic. I would really like to see the shoulders of our roads and highways cleaned up much more often than obviously happens now.

It is not infrequent that there is broken glass or other dangerous debris in the shoulder. It’s a fact that cyclists do not throw glass from their bikes. When I need to change lanes for my safety, car traffic needs to make accomodations. Her swerving is meaningless to the story unless she was intoxicated.

It’s a fact because cyclists know it causes flats and they carry plastic bottles. Glass is heavy. There is no such thing as a glass bike bottle. Cars never see this because debris gets pushed/washed into the shoulder.

Sweeping the roadways are an ongoing process. But there is t he small matter of time, other roads to sweep, lack of personnel, equipment breakdowns etc that get in the way from time . Combine that with the pesky pine cones, litter bugs ,a slight swerve from a bicyclist and a under the influence driver and voila you have the potential for a accident. Let’s call it what it is.an accident and stop trying to blame someone or something.

I wish there were harsher laws about drinking and driving. There is NO excuse to drink and drive. This bozo was drunk at six in the morning? I know, not proven yet, but if he was..he took the live of an amazing lady who had so much to give